The Light Was Green
by Sideshow Cellophane 26
Summary: Human AU. Alfred saw three green lights. The median blocked his view of the other car going over the speed limit, right towards the side Peter was on. Driving is not scary until you realize the weight of that human life sitting beside you.


**Warning: sensitive materials and language. Based off a true story. Take a wild guess as to what it's about.**

" _The Light Was Green…"_

" _It's okay Alfred, the light was green. The light was green, she was in the wrong."_

" _The light was green…yeah…"_

" _I'm calling Dad, okay?"_

" _The light was fucking green, Peter."_

…

"Hey, let's visit Dad," Alfred said as he started up the car. He only had enough money to park at the public beach access point for an hour, but it was an hour well spent (granted, he may have gotten sunburn, but the water and future tan was worth it!). "We can go to that café that makes the great desserts and surprise him!"

"Sure, whatever," The younger boy shrugged his shoulders as he pushed the beach chair into the trunk, and shut it.

"Then I need to go to the grocery store for some soda, and then we can go home, okay? We didn't have much time here so we can just relax in our pool at the house. For free!" He flashed a grin and a thumbs up.

…

" _Oh my god. Is everyone alright?"_

" _Yes ma'am, we're just shaken up!...Alfred, I can't get out on this side."_

" _I know, h-hold on…"_

" _Holy SHIT he fucking totaled his car!"_

" _Alfred, Dad's coming out of his office, I can see him…"_

…

"Sure thing," Peter chuckled a little as he laid out his towel in the front seat and sat on it. The teen was still dripping wet. "Hey, thanks for taking me out!"

"Sure thing, little brother!" Alfred grinned and started the car. "I have today and tomorrow off, and today is gonna be a perfect day!"

…

" _My light was green, lady!"_

" _MY light was green! You're supposed to yield to me, you were turning and I was going straight!"_

" _But…I had a green light! It wasn't yellow!"_

" _Was it a flashing green arrow?"_

" _N-no…"_

" _Then you were supposed to yield to her, sweetie."_

 _But all three lights at that intersection on his side had been green. The other cars in her section had stopped. And he KNEW, and PETER knew, that she had come flying up from behind the cars that blocked Alfred's vision as he had turned. He had no time to stop, but neither had she._

 _He hadn't seen her._

 _And his light was green. Not a flashing green arrow._

…

"So like, do you want me to get you anything while we're out? I just got paid today man, AND this café is totally known for some awesome raspberry bars and brownies!"

…

 _It was then that Alfred saw that she had totaled her entire front end. He got a good look at his own car: they had been hit in the right headlight area, and that half of the hood had crumpled like a fucking sheet of paper._

 _The car had gone out of his control, and he wound up making a partial U-turn into the side of THAT road, and hit a speed limit sign stating the speed was slowing to 35. There was a hill to the left of the crashed car._

 _Her car was still in the turning lane, blocking some of the traffic._

 _Had he been going any faster she would have hit and killed his baby brother. Had that speed limit sign not been there, the car would have rolled down the hill and killed both of them._

…

"Eh…I'll choose when I get there," Peter decided.

…

" _ALFRED! PETER!"_

" _DAD!"_

" _Are you two alright?! What the bloody hell happened?! Did you call the police?!"_

" _N-not yet, I'm about to…"_

 _The older boy, about to turn eighteen, sniffled and tried to stop crying so he could call the police._

 _There were two witnesses. It had already been called in._

 _Francis was called too._

" _Did you have a green arrow?"_

" _N-no…"_

…

Alfred just saw a fucking green light. There were three greenlights, and he was in the far left lane trying to make a turn at an odd intersection one does not see every day. He observed that the cars in the diagonal lanes were stopped

 _they were turning lanes with **s**_

and he knew that a car had just turned in the lane that he was in with the same green light.

A car that was blocked by his line of vision was going ten, maybe fifteen miles over the speed limit in the third lane.

…

" _Son, are you alright?"_

" _Yes sir, my neck just hurts a little. It's from the whiplash I bet."_

" _Do you need to go to the hospital?"_

" _No sir."_

 _Alfred began to cry again as his fathers hugged him. The paramedics were first to arrive, police still pending._

 _She had hit the side that Peter was on._

 _He almost killed his baby brother. It would have been no one's fault but his own._

…

Alfred had no time to stop. Her car had come flying well above the speed limit of 45, but he had not yielded like he should have either.

He screamed and lost control of the car.

The brakes gave out, and he rammed into a speed sign. Had they not hit it the car would have gone down the hill off-road, into the building below, and killed them both.

The air bag had not inflated, but Alfred didn't even think of that. He had already begun to cry as Peter was the one who took the responsibility and called their father, whose workplace they were just turning into.

All that Alfred had wanted to do was buy Arthur some sweets and fucking surprise him.

…

 _The four of them had just arrived home. The officer who spoke with both witnesses and both drivers had already set a court date for Alfred and given him a traffic ticket for failure to yield._

 _Nobody was hurt, but the guilt and shame still ate him up inside._

 _Especially when Francis gave Peter Ibuprofen for his whiplash._

…

He had no idea what to do. It was his first accident.

This was the Hero's first failure as a big brother, and he made it well known that he didn't care about his own life when he was in that accident.

Because the other driver, he had no idea if she had gotten a speeding ticket or gotten away with it because the two witnesses only described what they saw and he was certain it was his failure to yield, had hit the side Peter was on.

She had hit the side Peter was on.

 _She had hit the fucking side Peter was on._

Had the car been going any faster when he was turning, she would have hit the passenger door and killed his baby brother and _**it would have been HIS fault.**_

"It's okay Alfred, the light was green. The light was green, she was in the wrong."

"The light was green…yeah…"

"I'm calling Dad, okay?"

"The light was fucking green, Peter."

...

 _"Boys, let's go home, oui?"_

 _"Oui, Papa."_

 _Alfred needed to go home and collect himself. He hadn't stopped crying throughout the entire ordeal. Shit happened every day, and especially at intersections such as these where the green light versus green arrow confusion was common, but this was the first time the Hero had nearly killed someone he loved dearly. This was his first car accident, and it didn't matter what anyone said._

 _"It could have been worse!"_

 _"You could have flipped the car!"_

 _"Bloody hell Alfred, in my first car accident my brothers and I were fighting over a parking spot. I hit Seamus' car in our own driveway."_

 _"Non, mon Alfie. From what I saw of_ her _car, and from what both you and Peter have told us, she was_ not _going the speed limit. You are all lucky to have gotten up and walked away . . . People die every day in those accidents."_

 _Alfred knew that it could have been worse, and it was SO HARD to NOT focus on those what-ifs, but it ate him up on the inside._ _She had hit the side his brother was on. Alfred could have been alright if it had been his side, he would happily die for anyone. Maybe his fear and trauma would get better over time, but as for now all he could think was that . . ._

She had hit the side his brother was on.


End file.
